I’ve wondered why the Derby–or the whole Triple Crown, for that matter–is limited to two year olds. Such age restrictions aren’t imposed on humans in track and field.
Are three- or four-year-old horses over the hill? If not, why aren’t they allowed to compete?
Actually, the Kentucky Derby and the rest of the Triple Crown is restricted to three-year-olds. Not so much because of their speed (although they are faster than two-year-olds) but because of their endurance. The Derby is a mile and a quarter, the Preakness is a mile and a sixteenth (I think), and the Belmont is a mile and a half. Two year olds are seldom raced for more than a mile.
Typically, speed records are set by horses in the three to six year age group, with the older horses setting their marks in distance races (one mile or longer).
Whoops–three-year olds, you’re right.
But why the age restriction to three-year olds? Why not open the events to the world’s fastest, damn their ages?
Well, to answer the OP, because yeah, two and three-year-old horses ARE fastest, the same way late adolescent humans are the fastest sprinters. After about age 25 they start to slow down, and horses start to slow down after age 4.
And remember we’re talking about sprinting here, not distance races. A mile and a half doesn’t really count as a “distance” horse race, not the way a 3-mile “eventing” course does, or one of those 50 or 100-mile “endurance” races.
Although it’s not the greatest of tracks, I was able to find the speed records for Calder Race Course in Florida. Note that as the distance increases, the age of the record holding horse also increases. I’m pretty certain that you’d see a similar pattern for any thoroughbred track.
“Adolescent” 25-year-old humans? Yeah, I guess you’ve got a point there.
Perhaps it might help to think of the Kentucky Derby as a race for three year olds, in the same way that a high school track meet is a race for high school students. If you’re not in high school, you can’t be in the race. If you opened it up to everyone, it wouldn’t be a high school track meet anymore.
I once heard the Kentucky Derby described as the Superbowl of horse racing. While this may be true in the sense of the advertising, tv coverage, and other hoopla, it’s not a good comparison because if you are a professional football team, there is no other “ultimate” test other than the Superbowl. In horse racing, however, there are many races for horses of various ages. The idea that the Kentucky Derby is the be-all-and-end-all of horse racing is something that is perpetuated by the TV networks, who are trying to capture an audience of people who don’t follow racing throughout the season.
Of course, winning the Triple Crown is an awesome feat, and a measure of an excellent race horse. But horses such as Man O’War and Seabiscuit weren’t Derby winners, and both are considered giants in the history of the sport. The record for the most career prize money is held by Cigar (I wonder what he spent his winnings on), also not a Derby winner.